12 Comments

Why would I choose full service carrier instead of a low-cost one?@AntiVeeranna: I tried that too, searching for a one-week BRU-BSL-BRU round trip in mid-April: the cheapest option was EasyJet at 69€, but the next-cheapest was Brussels Airlines at 71€. Looking for a one-way flight changes things dramatically, though: EasyJet is still cheapest at 56€, but the cheapest traditional airline is now British Airways at 196€, with a 7-hour(!) transfer at Heathrow; the only direct one-way options besides EasyJet were Brussels Airlines at 820€ and Swissair at 874€(!). Moral of the story: always book a round-trip flight.

Who was this persistent person at Shanghai airport?@hippietrail: I think Esoteric Screen Name is talking mostly about things like inspection and/or vehicle tax stickers. It's just that generally, in English, license plates would not be considered as part of the same category of things, even if they do have a certain similarity (both being informational markers that you are required to affix to your vehicle); the main difference is that, despite having the word "license" in the name, the main purpose of license plates is generally considered to be vehicle identification, rather than merely proving that you've registered your vehicle.

Jun30

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Is there a powerstrip which accomodates most if not all AC power plugs?Using a power strip with an IEC C-14 plug is a clever idea, but I've never seen one of those for sale (although, apparently, they do exist). You could make one yourself, either with a rewirable C-14 plug or by replacing the entire cord of a normal power strip, but I wouldn't advise it unless you have at least a bit of experience working with mains wiring. (Pro tip: the yellow-green wire is the ground; always make sure it's correctly and securely wired, and has more slack than the others.)

Jun13

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How can I not get electrically shocked when handling my laptop in an airport?@Doc: Metal detectors can be somewhat random. I've had my shoelace hooks set off a metal detector gate at Charles de Gaulle, gotten wanded, told to take off my shoes and passed the same detector cleanly, only to later realize that I also had a 10cm+ steel comb in my pocket that it apparently did not react to.

Is it dangerous to go to the USA as a Russian now?That last part's likely to depend on just what ends up happening there, don't you think? But I do agree that if, as one would fervently hope, the current conflict blows over instead of escalating, most people in the U.S. are unlikely to care much.

Why is Nynäshamn a de facto “port” for Stockholm?Having sailed in the area, I'm not at all surprised that cruise liners might not want to try navigating the inner passage to Stockholm. What's not so apparent from the Google Maps link is that routes through the archipelago are not only narrow and twisting, but also shallow and full of rocks. This nautical chart may give some idea of what it's like. It's different for the Finland-ferries -- they do the route every day and know exactly how many meters of margin there is in each gap and when to start turning for each bend.